Opinion
Teaching Profession Opinion

Resilient Heroes!

By AAEE — December 15, 2015 1 min read
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When I started teaching 30 years ago, I had great anticipation and wonderful plans for my 2nd grade students. I was positive and hard working. Those qualities served me well that year and the next 29.

A lot has changed in the education world in those 30 years, and there are some things which have stayed the same. The characteristics of a great teacher are in the latter category: an innate ability to love the students, the “teaching” gene, a positive attitude, joy in children learning, creativity, a determination to plow through the hard times, resiliency, having a confidant for downloading, and a smile for the students.

Teaching is not easy; however, it is extremely rewarding. With most of the above essential abilities in place, the newest teachers will prevail above the myriad of laws, rules, policies, student behavior concerns, parent and community issues, and the ebb and flow of the educational world.

My purpose for this blog is to encourage new and all teachers to be strong through the hard times and enjoy the wonderful times! And there are many wonderful times. Our younger generation needs great teachers like you. Stay passionate and resilient. Know that you can do “hard things” so you can do the great things with students and teaching.

I greatly admire the educators across this great country; they are some of the unsung heroes who devote their lives to future generations with very little notoriety, praise, support, and usually very little money. Regardless of your setting - public, private, charter, religious, online, etc. - teachers are very precious, yet, under appreciated.

May I say to all teachers, teaching is worth your best! Thank you for being an educator!

Verneita R. Hunt

Associate Director, Human Resources

Granite School District (91 Schools, K-12)

Salt Lake City, Utah

The opinions expressed in Career Corner are strictly those of the author(s) and do not reflect the opinions or endorsement of Editorial Projects in Education, or any of its publications.